Phelps, Kentucky
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Phelps census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41553. It stands on Left Fork Peter Creek. The Survey maps it on the Matewan quadrangle. 760 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 837 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresPhelps fell from 1,053 to 760 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1,053 | |
| 2010 | 893 | -160 (-15%) |
| 2020 | 760 | -133 (-15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 24 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1887 USGS Warfield quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Warfield quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1909 USGS Matewan quadrangle1:48000
- 1915 USGS Matewan quadrangle1:48000
- 1917 USGS Matewan quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1928 USGS Matewan quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Matewan quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Williamson quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Matewan quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
176 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 176 fires within 5 miles of Phelps between 1997 and 2020, burning about 13,994 acres in total. None started naturally. 52 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 78 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 52 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | BOARDTREE II |
| 8 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | POUNDING MILL |
| 8 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 8 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 28 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | PETERS FORK RD 2 |
| 22 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | 7.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | HURRICANE CREEK |
| 21 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 46 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | FERRELL ROAD |
| 7 May 1997 | Debris and open burning | 14 acres | West Virginia Division of Forestry | TUG FORK RIVER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
21 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Phelps in 21 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 11 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 4 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2007 | Flash Flood | Phelps | $250,000 | US 194 near Phelps, US 119 at Johns Creek and Meta, US 460 at Millard, and KY 80 at Elkhorn closed due to high water. Numerous secondary roads also closed. Route 194 at Majestic Mountain impassable. A 50 foot section of US 460 and KY Rt 122 Intersection and the mouth of Chloe Rd collapsed. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | $15,000 | Numerous trees were blown down on roads across the east and southeast end of Pike county. |
| July 2008 | Flash Flood | Phelps | $7,000 | Runoff from a strip mine caused minor damage to the underpinning of a mobile home and pushed some mud and rock into a garage. Damage also occurred to the Phelps High School baseball field. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | $3,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew down power lines near Phelps. |
| April 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | $500 | Multiple trees and power lines were reported down in the community of Phelps. |
| April 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | - | The Pike County Highway Garage reported several trees down along KY-194 between MM 55 and 56, in the Phelps community. |
| April 2024 | Flood | Phelps | - | Pike County Emergency Management reported water flowing of KY-194 in 6 to 8 locations around the community of Phelps. Flooding was also occurring along Bones Branch and Abes Branch. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | - | Dispatch reported trees blown down on Kentucky Highway 194 near Phelps. |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | - | A tree was blown down near Phelps. |
| August 2013 | Heavy Rain | Phelps | - | The IFLOWS gage at Peters Creek measured a 24 hour rainfall total of 2.91 inches. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | - | Several trees were blown down. |
| February 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | - | Trees reported down on highway 194 and 632. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Phelps | - | The hail was the size of quarters. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | - | One tree was blown onto power lines on Joe McCoy Road. |
| May 2002 | Flash Flood | Phelps | - | Heavy rains caused Peter Creek to overflow its banks onto a nearby road. |
| June 2002 | Flash Flood | Phelps | - | Three feet of water covered Boardtree Road. |
| November 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Phelps | - | Several large limbs were reported downed by strong thunderstorm winds. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Phelps | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Phelps | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Phelps | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jamboree | 1.2 miles | 20 | |
| Arrow (historical) | 1.8 miles | 24 | |
| Board Tree | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Coleman | 2.8 miles | 20 | |
| Calloway Branch (historical) | 3.0 miles | 20 | |
| Majestic | 3.0 miles | 23 | |
| Stopover | 3.1 miles | 23 | |
| Left Fork of Blackberry (historical) | 3.1 miles | 24 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Phelps | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2481027 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 508814. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.










